FobbaBeans
New Member
My cousin's computer randomly crashes and reboots itself. It usually does this while in Battlefield 3 - typically at launch, or while respawning or changing maps. It has also done this right after booting into Win7 x64 and also while watching a video on YouTube. There is no error message or blue/black screen indicating an issue. The screen just goes black, and then it posts and starts Windows again. A quick background on me... I've built many computers over the years and I've always had good luck. This is probably the first issue I've ran into that I haven't been able to solve yet. I'm by no means an expert though. I feel like I have to play catch-up with technology when I do a build because things change so fast, and my life involves IT tech support every day, not PC building/repair.
This was a budget build. We spent roughly $500 altogether a couple of years ago at Tiger Direct in Raleigh, NC. I gave him the 500GB Seagate hard drive because a Dell XPS system I had bought came with two 500GB HDD's in RAID, and I didn't need two drives (it was obviously formatted before re-use). It has gone through a couple of changes since I put it together. Originally I believed it was the video card causing the issue, since it was incredibly hot to the touch. I replaced the HD6770 in favor of my friend's GeForce 560ti that he sold for cheap. I have always used the latest drivers. All anti-virus programs have been uninstalled. It's obviously not Battlefield 3 causing it because if it was the game, just the game would crash and return me to Windows, and also because it's happened outside of the game. The HD6770 runs perfectly fine in my stepmom's nearly identical build, although the aluminum heat sink still gets ridiculously hot.
I've monitored the temps at a full load when playing BF3 and the CPU never went above 40C, the GPU never got above 65C. This was under a full load, and GPU fans running at 40% per MSI Afterburner. I am not running any OC on the CPU, GPU or RAM.
Original Build:
Gigabyte 880GM-D2H MicroATX Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X6 1045T Thuban CPU - 6 cores
Corsair Vengeance (black) DDR3 1600 RAM (2x4GB) matched set
- Gigabyte HD6770 1GB GPU
- Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 600W PSU
Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200RPM HDD
Generic Internal card reader
22X Samsung DVD Writer
5 x 120mm Cooler Master blue LED case fans
Cooler Master 430 Elite Case
===============================================================
Last night I tore this thing down and removed the Cooler Master 600W and replaced it with the new EVGA 600B Bronze.
Current Build:
Gigabyte 880GM-D2H MicroATX Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X6 1045T Thuban CPU - 6 cores
Corsair Vengeance (black) DDR3 1600 RAM (2x4GB) matched set
- PNY GeForce 560Ti 1GB GPU
- EVGA 600B PSU (600W 80-PLUS Bronze)
Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200RPM HDD
Generic Internal card reader
22X Samsung DVD Writer
5 x 120mm Cooler Master blue LED case fans
Cooler Master 430 Elite Case
I wasn't totally upset when I started working on it, because part of figuring it out has been playing BF3. That's always fun. Replacing the power supply also gave me the unique opportunity to tear everything down and properly manage the wiring. When I originally put this machine together, I was rushing it and blamed my crappy wiring job on the case (which definitely isn't top notch), but I found other ways to hide most of the wiring and open the inside of it up for better airflow.
Here's diags at an idle:
There isn't a fan controller installed, the identical four blue-LED 120mm case fans are connected with molex adapters.
I wondered if the CPU was overheating due to excessive thermal paste or a heat pocket in the paste, but CoreTemp assures me otherwise. The CPU cooler is the stock one, I believe, but it seems to be doing a very good job according to CoreTemp. At an idle it sits around 22C, under a load I've seen it reach 40C. The GPU sits at around 32C at an idle, while it peaks at around 65C (if I recall correctly) at a load. This is after reaching a consistent 95-100% utilization in Battlefield 3 for about an hour. Not bad for a 1GB card.
I've also tried experimenting with the RAM. I did notice one of the clasps on the RAM slot wasn't fully closed on the stick, I was thinking it was going to be an easy fix, but that wasn't it. I have tried using one stick and both slots individually to see if it could be a bad RAM stick. Unfortunately no matter how I run it, it still continues to have the occasional crash/reboot.
Before. Gross.
Aside from this problem, which can take hours and hours to reproduce, this computer runs very well. It plays BF3 on ULTRA settings at 45-55fps. I think this is good for a cheaper Thuban CPU paired with a 1GB card. I was able to get roughly 40-50fps with my Thuban paired with an HD6790 1GB in an older build. This computer is pretty solid and I would like to see it run without these occasional crashes. I would like to have hope that budget builds can work long-term! At this point I am fairly certain it is not caused by the Power Supply, Graphics Card, or RAM, seeing as how these parts have been replaced already or extensively tested. I would like to avoid hail-mary plays if possible. Maybe there's some new utilities out there floating around that could help me figure out what's going on?
OK sorry for the novel, but info is key and I'm sure no one likes helping the guy that just says "Please help." Thanks in advance! -Jeff
This was a budget build. We spent roughly $500 altogether a couple of years ago at Tiger Direct in Raleigh, NC. I gave him the 500GB Seagate hard drive because a Dell XPS system I had bought came with two 500GB HDD's in RAID, and I didn't need two drives (it was obviously formatted before re-use). It has gone through a couple of changes since I put it together. Originally I believed it was the video card causing the issue, since it was incredibly hot to the touch. I replaced the HD6770 in favor of my friend's GeForce 560ti that he sold for cheap. I have always used the latest drivers. All anti-virus programs have been uninstalled. It's obviously not Battlefield 3 causing it because if it was the game, just the game would crash and return me to Windows, and also because it's happened outside of the game. The HD6770 runs perfectly fine in my stepmom's nearly identical build, although the aluminum heat sink still gets ridiculously hot.
I've monitored the temps at a full load when playing BF3 and the CPU never went above 40C, the GPU never got above 65C. This was under a full load, and GPU fans running at 40% per MSI Afterburner. I am not running any OC on the CPU, GPU or RAM.
Original Build:
Gigabyte 880GM-D2H MicroATX Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X6 1045T Thuban CPU - 6 cores
Corsair Vengeance (black) DDR3 1600 RAM (2x4GB) matched set
- Gigabyte HD6770 1GB GPU
- Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 600W PSU
Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200RPM HDD
Generic Internal card reader
22X Samsung DVD Writer
5 x 120mm Cooler Master blue LED case fans
Cooler Master 430 Elite Case
===============================================================
Last night I tore this thing down and removed the Cooler Master 600W and replaced it with the new EVGA 600B Bronze.
Current Build:
Gigabyte 880GM-D2H MicroATX Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X6 1045T Thuban CPU - 6 cores
Corsair Vengeance (black) DDR3 1600 RAM (2x4GB) matched set
- PNY GeForce 560Ti 1GB GPU
- EVGA 600B PSU (600W 80-PLUS Bronze)
Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200RPM HDD
Generic Internal card reader
22X Samsung DVD Writer
5 x 120mm Cooler Master blue LED case fans
Cooler Master 430 Elite Case
I wasn't totally upset when I started working on it, because part of figuring it out has been playing BF3. That's always fun. Replacing the power supply also gave me the unique opportunity to tear everything down and properly manage the wiring. When I originally put this machine together, I was rushing it and blamed my crappy wiring job on the case (which definitely isn't top notch), but I found other ways to hide most of the wiring and open the inside of it up for better airflow.
Here's diags at an idle:
There isn't a fan controller installed, the identical four blue-LED 120mm case fans are connected with molex adapters.
I wondered if the CPU was overheating due to excessive thermal paste or a heat pocket in the paste, but CoreTemp assures me otherwise. The CPU cooler is the stock one, I believe, but it seems to be doing a very good job according to CoreTemp. At an idle it sits around 22C, under a load I've seen it reach 40C. The GPU sits at around 32C at an idle, while it peaks at around 65C (if I recall correctly) at a load. This is after reaching a consistent 95-100% utilization in Battlefield 3 for about an hour. Not bad for a 1GB card.
I've also tried experimenting with the RAM. I did notice one of the clasps on the RAM slot wasn't fully closed on the stick, I was thinking it was going to be an easy fix, but that wasn't it. I have tried using one stick and both slots individually to see if it could be a bad RAM stick. Unfortunately no matter how I run it, it still continues to have the occasional crash/reboot.
Before. Gross.
Aside from this problem, which can take hours and hours to reproduce, this computer runs very well. It plays BF3 on ULTRA settings at 45-55fps. I think this is good for a cheaper Thuban CPU paired with a 1GB card. I was able to get roughly 40-50fps with my Thuban paired with an HD6790 1GB in an older build. This computer is pretty solid and I would like to see it run without these occasional crashes. I would like to have hope that budget builds can work long-term! At this point I am fairly certain it is not caused by the Power Supply, Graphics Card, or RAM, seeing as how these parts have been replaced already or extensively tested. I would like to avoid hail-mary plays if possible. Maybe there's some new utilities out there floating around that could help me figure out what's going on?
OK sorry for the novel, but info is key and I'm sure no one likes helping the guy that just says "Please help." Thanks in advance! -Jeff
